This workshop introduces the practices and politics surrounding what has been defined variously as “non-fiction,” “documentary,” “interview-based,” or “investigative” theater. We call this theater “horizontal” because its text, source material, and processes are generated not by a single artist but derived by and from communities. In this workshop, participants will be introduced to the ethics of building theater from interviews with members of a community, and the process of horizontal theater making through the lens of previous and ongoing collaborative work among the artists. Participants will be able to apply their instincts in storytelling by editing a transcript of an interview into a dramatic monologue or song. By the end of this workshop, participants should have a sense of particular dramaturgical challenges and gratifications of building theater in this way. 

About EllaRose Chary, Jay Stull, & Erato A. Kremmyda

EllaRose Chary is a writer and advocate for inclusion in media. Her projects include: COTTON CANDY AND COCAINE (Theater C), TL;DR: Thelma Louise; Dyke Remix (Rhinebeck Writers Retreat, Polyphone Festival, O’Neill NMTC Incubator Residency), THE DOLL MAKER’S GIFT (The Rose Theater, Omaha Entertainment Arts Award and Theatre Arts Guild Outstanding New Work nominee), THE LORIKEET (The Flea Theater Commission), MARRYING ME (BOH Cameronian Arts Award Winner), THE LAKE AND THE MILL (Finalist, Kernodle New Play Award, Great Plains Theatre Conference), The Civilians’ Lobby Project at City Center (Encores! Off-Center) and THE SÉANCE MACHINE (The Tank). EllaRose is a Dramatists Guild Fellow, Ars Nova Uncharted resident, Catwalk Institute resident, Harvard ArtLab Resident, Musical Theater Today Contributing Editor, NYFA Fellowship Playwriting/Screenwriting Finalist, Kleban Prize Finalist, recipient of the Anna Sosenko Grant and a NAMT grant, New Georges Affiliated Artist and a member of ASCAP and the Dramatists Guild. BA: Brown University; MFA: NYU Tisch. www.ellarosechary.com 

Jay Stull is a playwright, director, and teacher. His work as both a writer and director has been developed or produced by Ars Nova, Roundabout Theater Company, Clubbed Thumb, The Civilians, City Center Off-Center, Gym at Judson, The Tank, Bloomington Playwrights Project, Fresh Ground Pepper, New Light Theater Project, The Amoralists, and Dixon Place. He is an alumnus of the Lincoln Center Director's Lab, The Civilians R&D Group, and the Clubbed Thumb Early Career Directing Fellowship, and is a founding member of the theater company Third Person. MFA: Columbia. www.jaystull.com 

Erato A. Kremmyda is a composer working across genres and countries. Recent/current theater work includes: Marie In Tomorrow Land with Maggie-Kate Coleman and Sam Pinkleton (Polyphone Festival, AMPT Northwestern, Rhinebeck, Civilians R&D, Space On Ryder Farm, Orchard Project, Ars Nova Writers Retreat, Catwalk),  We Will Not Be Silent (with Coleman, NYMF commission), Riot Antigone (La Mama, Ars Nova), RED WEDNESDAY (Mabou Mines, BRIC Arts Center/Built for Collapse); IO (International Filippi Festival, Greece); YOUNG LEAR (Teatro Duo, Rome) etc. She is a Jonathan Larson Award winner, a Fulbright scholar and an Anna Sosenko Grant recipient. MFA: Tisch (Graduate Musical Theater Writing), MM: Steinhardt NYU (Composition/Film Scoring), Athens University and Athens Conservatoire. www.eratoAkremmyda.com